Valparaiso University’s Innovation Hub (IHub) will host several hundred high school students from across Northwest Indiana on Friday, November 17 as part of Global Entrepreneurship Week. The IHub’s aim is to foster entrepreneurial thinking in a new generation of future industry leaders while bringing high school students to Valparaiso University’s campus.
“High school is a prime time for students to begin developing their ideas into a viable business,” said Dushan Nikolavski, director of the IHub and clinical associate professor of entrepreneurship. “They have access to so many resources at this stage and can easily find the support they need to test out their ideas. I'm thrilled we have so many high schools participating in this event and teachers supporting the initiative to encourage entrepreneurial thinking in our youth.”
Students participating in the event will be given a presentation on prototyping their product ideas with Doug Tougaw, Ph.D., P.E., dean of the College of Engineering and president of the American Society for Engineering Education. Don Wettrick and Kevin Schamel of the STARTedUP Foundation in Indianapolis — best known for the Innovate WithIN competition — will serve as speakers at the event. Students will also be taught networking and presentation skills, and be given the opportunity to practice what they learn over the course of the day.
“I love working to help students establish an entrepreneurial mindset because it unlocks their potential and enables them to become their authentic selves,” said Debera Hinchy, a business and economics teacher at Lowell High School. “It's very important for students to participate in events such as the one hosted at Valparaiso University because they provide opportunities to meet other people outside of their day to day encounters and relate to the global environment.”
The event will take place throughout the day in the Harre Union ballrooms. Participating schools include Munster High School, Hammond High School, Lake Central High School, Merrillville High School, Hobart High School and Lowell High School.
Participation in Global Entrepreneurship Week is just one of the many ways that the IHub at Valparaiso University is giving students and the community the tools they need to bring their ideas into reality. For a list of November speaking events, and for other resources and opportunities offered by the IHub, visit their website here.